About the Authors

Abdulla Shehab

a.shehab@uaeu.ac.ae

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

Bayan Al-Dabbagh

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

Khalid F. AlHabib

Affiliation King Fahad Cardiac Center, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Alawi A. Alsheikh-Ali

Affiliations Heart and Vascular Institute, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies and Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Wael Almahmeed

Affiliation Heart and Vascular Institute, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Kadhim Sulaiman

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman

Ahmed Al-Motarreb

Affiliation Faculty of Medicine, Sana’s University, Sana’a, Yemen

Nicolaas Nagelkerke

Affiliation Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

Jassim Al Suwaidi

Affiliation Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Doha, Qatar

Ahmad Hersi

Affiliation Department of Cardiac Sciences, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Hussam Al Faleh

Affiliation Department of Cardiac Sciences, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Nidal Asaad

Affiliation Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Doha, Qatar

Shukri Al Saif

Affiliation Cardiology Department, Saud Al-Babtain Cardiac Center, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Haitham Amin

Affiliation Cardiology Department, Mohammed Bin Khalifa Cardiac Center, Manama, Bahrain

Competing Interests

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Sanofi Aventis. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AS BA-D. Performed the experiments: AS BA-D. Analyzed the data: NN BA-D. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KFA AAA-A WA KS AA-M NN JAS AH HAF NA SAS HA. Wrote the paper: AS BA-D.